The rental price gap between recent and long-term tenants widened between 1996 and 2021, according to a study Statistics Canada released Wednesday.
In 2021, those who had stayed in place for five or more years paid about 19% less rent than recent renters who had moved within the last year, up from a 6% gap in 1996. The study accounted for comparable dwellings and neighbourhoods.
The rental cost gap between recent and longer-term renters varied across municipalities. Long-standing tenants in 2021 paid 18% to 20% less than recent renters in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa. One exception was Calgary, where long-standing tenants paid around 6% less than recent tenants, the study found.
Renters in Canada increasingly favour longer tenancy durations. In 2021, 42% of renters lived in the same place they did five years earlier, up from 30% in 1996. By contrast, only 20% of renters lived in a different location a year or more ago in 2021, compared with 30% in 1996.
“Renters may increasingly be incentivized to avoid moving, and this may hinder residential and labour mobility,” the report said.
High housing costs for renters could dissuade otherwise qualified individuals from applying to employment opportunities that require frequent relocations, such as the military. Lower labour mobility could have knock-on effects on efficient labour allocation across Canada and hurt labour productivity, the report noted.